The Braxtons collection
by ImaginaryAngel2014
Summary: Here you will find numerous Home & Away one shots revolving around The Braxtons!
1. Welcome Baby Casey

It had been two weeks since Brax and Ricky brought the baby home, but Sydney hadn't even held him yet. Watching Kyle doting on their nephew and hearing Brax tell everyone about him should have made her happy, but it didn't.

Waking up to the baby crying, Sydney got changed and headed out to catch some waves. Surfing was her escape, the one thing that made her forget about things and took her away from reality.

Emerging from the water, Sydney tucked her board under her arm and walked up the beach. Dropping her surfboard back at the house, Sydney rushed back out and went to the diner for breakfast.

"Good morning," Leah greeted her cheerily, "What can I get you?"

"Morning, can I just get a coffee and some pancakes please?"

"Of course, how are Brax and Ricky doing?" Leah asked, "They must be thrilled to have baby Casey home."

"They're fine," Sydney replied, trying her hardest to keep her tone calm.

"I remember when I first brought VJ home, the sleepless nights and the seemingly endless nappy changes," Leah said, "Casey is lucky to have such a great family around him."

Sydney could feel the tears forming in her eyes and rushed out of the diner, ignoring Leah's concerned calls. She ran all the way home, needing to clear her mind and fight back the tears that were threatening to fall.

When she reached the house, Sydney walked in to find Heath and Darcy sitting on the sofa with the baby. Darcy hugged Sydney, before pulling her over to Heath and chatting away about how excited she was to meet her new cousin.

"Do you want to take him?" Heath inquired, motioning to the now sleeping baby in his arms.

"No," Sydney mumbled, "I need a shower."

Climbing in the shower, Sydney let the hot water wash over her and closed her eyes tight. She couldn't fight the tears this time and they rolled down her cheeks, mixing with the water that trickled off her hair.

When Sydney returned to the living room, Brax, Ricky, Kyle and Cheryl had arrived. Standing in the doorway, Sydney watched her family bonding with the new addition and was about to disappear into her room when Brax spoke.

"While I've got you all together, me and Ricky have decided to have a naming ceremony for Casey," Brax told them, "We know that none of you are huge on speech giving, but we were hoping that you'd say something and be a part of it."

Heath, Kyle and Cheryl all agreed immediately, but Sydney remained silent and everyone soon turned to look at her.

"I can't," Sydney stated, shaking her head.

"Syd, this is really important to me… to us," Brax added, "Will you at least think about it?"

"I already told you I can't."

"You don't have a choice," Cheryl said, glaring at Sydney and moving towards her angrily, "You think I don't know what's going on, you're jealous… you've always been jealous and this time I'm not letting you get away with ruining another family event."

"Family… it's a little late to be lecturing anyone about family and how the hell would you know anything about how I feel… you haven't been around," Sydney shouted, taking everyone by surprise, "I can't do the speech and you're going to have to accept it."

Sydney rushed from the house and headed to the one place that made her feel okay… the cemetery.

x-x-x

Everyone stared in shock as Sydney ran from the house and silence settled on the group, until Heath spoke.

"Good job, mum."

"Why doesn't Sydney want to make a speech, daddy?" Darcy asked.

"She's a jealous little…" Cheryl started, but Heath cut her off with a glare.

"Sydney's just upset, Darce," Heath reassured his daughter, pulling her into a hug and kissing her head.

"I should have seen it earlier," Brax added, running his hand over his face and drawing everyone's attention to him, "I need to go find her and talk to her."

x-x-x

Sitting in front of her brother's grave, Sydney allowed the tears to fall down her face again and hugged her knees close to her chest. She didn't know how long she had been there, before she heard movement behind her and turned round to find Brax.

"I thought you'd be here."

"Needed to talk."

"Then talk to me, Syd," Brax stated, sitting down beside her, "I can't help if you won't tell me what's wrong."

"I miss him, Brax," Sydney whispered, " I miss him all the time and nobody seems to want to talk about him… it's like he doesn't exist in our lives anymore. I want to bond with my nephew… I want to be able to hold him and baby-sit with Kyle, but every time I looked at him or hear his name it reminds me that Casey isn't coming back."

"I am so sorry, Syd," Brax replied, "I never wanted to make you feel like you couldn't talk about him and Casey will always be a part of our lives. Do you know why we chose to call the baby Casey?"

"In memory of Casey."

"Partly, but we also chose to call him Casey because that's the sort of person we want him to grow up to be," Brax explained, "Baby Casey will grow up around you, Kyle and Heath, but we wanted him to have some connection to his uncle Casey as well."

"It's hard," Sydney mumbled.

"I know," Brax told her, standing up and offering Sydney his hand, "Come and meet your nephew

Sydney hesitated, before taking a deep breath and allowing Brax to pull her up. Wrapping his arms around Sydney, Brax kissed her head and led her back to the house. Following Brax inside, Sydney smiled as Ricky pulled her into a hug and glanced over at Brax who winked at her.

"I'm sorry," Sydney said to Ricky.

"No need to apologise… do you want to hold him?" Ricky inquired, noticing Sydney watching the baby.

Nodding, she moved over to Heath and watched as he handed over the tiny bundle that was cradled in his arms. Staring down at the baby, Sydney kissed his head gently and sat down next to Kyle.

Over the next two weeks, Sydney bonded with Casey and helped Ricky out with the preparations for the naming ceremony. She had been working on something special for it for almost a week and she had finally finished, but she didn't know if Brax and Ricky would like it.

They gathered on the beach… the entire family and some of the locals. Brax had dressed Casey in a tiny suit, complete with tie and he looked adorable.

"Hello and welcome to Casey Braxton's naming day… as you all know I was lucky enough to be the doctor that delivered little Casey and just like his mum he was pretty impatient, and arrived a few weeks early. He's already a popular personality in the bay with no shortage of willing babysitters," Nate stated, "We're so happy to welcome this little guy into the world."

Kyle, Cheryl and Heath all gave their speeches, leaving Sydney to take her turn. Looking over at Kyle, she nodded and he retrieved his guitar, joining her at the front of the gathered crowd.

"There was so much that I wanted to say, but like a typical Braxton I couldn't find the words… so I decided on a song instead," Sydney informed everyone, nodding at Kyle once again and smiling as he started playing.

Singing her version of Pure by Lightning Seeds, Sydney smiled and glanced up at the clear blue sky above her head. It was true that Casey was gone and that was still hard for Sydney to accept, but she knew that he would always be with them.


	2. Accidents and Guilt Pt 1 of 2

Sydney hadn't wanted to go to the school dance, but then Romeo had asked her to go and in the heat of the moment she had said yes. Putting on the baby blue dress that Brax had bought her, Sydney stared at her reflection in the mirror and nodded to herself as Ruby did it up at the back. The dress was a strapless, floor length number with a jewel-embroidered bodice and Sydney found that she didn't totally hate it.

Finding out that Sydney had never been to a dance, Ruby had insisted on doing her hair, which was now sitting in an upside down braid and bun style. Slipping her feet into a pair of heels, Sydney turned to face Ruby and took a deep breath.

"You look amazing," Ruby said with a smile.

Following Ruby into the living room, Sydney stood in front of her brothers and stared at the ground.

"You look beautiful, Syd," Brax stated, moving to stand in front of her and lifting her chin, "You're going to be fine."

Sydney smiled at Brax and took a deep breath, before nodding. Romeo arrived ten minutes later, dressed in a tux and freezing in the doorway when he spotted Sydney.

"We should get going, otherwise we're going to be late," Kyle told them, grabbing his guitar and heading outside to the car.

Taking her jacket from Ruby, Sydney hesitated for a moment before glancing over at her brother and heading after Kyle with Romeo close behind her. Getting in the car, Romeo took Sydney's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

Sydney hated being around large groups of people, but Romeo had gone to the trouble of asking her and she didn't want to let him down… she couldn't. Pulling up to the school, Sydney climbed out of the car and waited for the others to join her, before making her way inside.

"Kyle," Phoebe said as she approached them, "Thanks for stepping in at such short notice."

"It's fine, I better get set up… Syd, have fun."

Sydney would be lying if she said she didn't enjoy herself, but she was happy when the night was over and she was on her way home with Kyle. They were singing along to the radio, when Kyle stepped on the brake to slow down and nothing happened.

"I learned from you that I do not crumble, I learned that strength is something you choose…" Sydney sang, screaming as Kyle pulled the handbrake and lost control.

The car skidded across the road as Kyle fought to get it back under control, but before he could the wheels clipped a small curb and the car rolled down a small incline at the side of the road.

x-x-x

The car rolled two times, before hitting a tree and coming to a rest on all four wheels. Kyle moaned, feeling something warm trickling down his face and moving his hand to wipe it away from his eye. Looking over at Sydney, Kyle saw that she had blood on her face and that her eyes were closed.

"Syd," Kyle whispered, struggling to unbuckle his seat belt and reaching over to check Sydney's pulse.

Finding that her pulse was weak, Kyle retrieved his phone from his pocket and cursed under his breath when he saw that the screen was cracked. Taking a deep breath, he pressed the button to unlock it and sighed with relief when the screen lit up allowing him to call for help.

"Ky," Sydney mumbled from the passenger seat, trying to move and shouting out in pain as Kyle tried to stop her.

"Don't try to move… you need to stay still," Kyle told her, "Helps on the way."

"It… it hurts," Sydney replied, her voice strained and her breathing laboured.

"I know," Kyle said, feeling tears forming in his eyes and panic begin to build as Sydney's eyes slipped shut, "Syd… Sydney, you have to stay awake."

"Tired."

"Just… keep your eyes open," Kyle pleaded, "Please… For me."

Hearing sirens in the distance, Kyle reluctantly climbed out of the car and made his way up to the road to stop the ambulance. Kyle refused to get checked out, watching the paramedics work on Sydney and calling Brax.

 _'Hello,'_ came Brax's voice on the other end of the line.

"Brax," Kyle replied, his voice cracking as the reality of what had happened began to sink in.

 _'Kyle… what's wrong?'_ Brax asked sounding worried.

"I tried to brake, but they wouldn't work… the car rolled and hit a tree," Kyle rambled.

 _'What do you mean the brakes didn't work?'_

"They just didn't… Brax, Syd is hurt really badly and I'm… I'm scared," Kyle mumbled, allowing the tears to fall and not caring how weak he sounded to his big brother.

 _'Where are you?'_ Brax inquired.

"I don't know…" Kyle told him, watching as Sydney was removed from the car, "They just got Syd out of the car."

 _'We'll meet you at the hospital.'_

The drive to the hospital was horrible and seemed to take forever, but finally they arrived. Sydney was rushed through some double doors and Kyle was guided into a room of his own, where he was checked out.

"Is my sister okay?" Kyle asked as a nurse stitched a cut above his eye.

"I'll find out for you as soon as I finish here," the nurse promised.

Ten minutes later, Kyle was sitting in the corridor with his head in his hands and waiting for news on Sydney. It wasn't long before Brax, Heath and Casey arrived with Ruby in tow.

"Kyle, are you okay?" Brax asked.

"I'm fine," Kyle replied, "A nurse has just gone to find out about Syd… I'm so sorry Brax."

"Why are you sorry?"

"I was driving and I couldn't get the car back under control… now Sydney is hurt," Kyle mumbled, looking up at Brax as he sat beside him and placed his hand comfortingly on Kyle's back.

"Mate, it wasn't your fault," Brax reassured him, "All that matters is that you're okay and that Sydney is where she needs to be."

Just as Brax said this, the nurse that had stitched Kyle's head returned and took them all into the waiting room.

"Your sister is extremely lucky, she has a concussion, a broken arm and a few cracked ribs," the nurse explained.

"She's going to be okay though?" Heath inquired.

"She's going to be fine, I can take you to see her if you want," the nurse offered.

Everyone nodded and the nurse led them to a room just down the corridor, where Sydney was lying. Heading inside, relief washed over Kyle as Sydney smiled and waved.

"So this is how you chose to get out of helping at Angelo's?" Casey joked as he gently kissed Sydney's head.

Kyle watched from the background as his brothers each made sure she was okay, unsure whether or not he should be there. Although Brax didn't blame him, Kyle blamed himself and the guilt he felt was overwhelming.

"Where's Kyle?" Sydney mumbled, snapping him from his thoughts.

"Right here," Kyle replied, stepping to the edge of the bed and taking Sydney's hand in his own.

* * *

 _ **Author's Notes**_

 _ **Thanks for reading :) Sorry this is soooo late. Part 2 will be up in a few days... how will Kyle deal with the guilt?**_

 _If there are any particular storylines you would like to see covered let me know and I will see what I can do... Scenarios are welcome to or prompts... Pm me if you have any ideas :)_


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